Kassa

Contents

Summary

Kassa is a variety of corn which has been genetically altered with psycho-stimulant properties which cause the plant to be highly addictive. It is grown and disbributed by the Lucian Alliance to planets with poor human populations as a means of control.

Earth References

Corn was native to the Americas long before it was discovered and distributed by European explorers. Various archaeological studies have concluded that it has been in the Americas for at least 4,600 years, but its exact origin isn't currently known. Today, there are several varieties of corn, each yielding a far more plentiful crop than the original corn which was grown by Native Americans. Nearly every part of the corn and its stalk is used as food, for humans and animals alike, and for the production of various other products, including soaps, linolium, oils, paints, and nylon.

Stargate References

SGC investigates the kassa plant

Reports were coming into Stargate Command, as well as the Free Jaffa Interim Council, that human populations throughout the galaxy were showing erratic behavior. The cause of this erratic behavior was discovered by accident when SG-3 visited a planet where a fight broke out in a marketplace when supplies of the kassa grew low. Curious as to why the plant was in such high demand, Lt. Mooney tasted a sample and quickly became addicted to it, describing it as "sweet corn heaven." Col. Reynolds conducted an investigation and obtained the Stargate address presumed to be the source of the plant and SG-1 was sent there to find out who was behind its distribution.

On the planet P6G-452, SG-1 encountered a native farmer who paused during his harvesting to sample an ear. The farmer arranged for a meeting between his employer, Worrel, and Col. Mitchell because Mitchell said that he was interested in purchasing a large quantity of the crop. Continuing in his guise as a drug dealer, Mitchell talked with Worrel to find out the name of his boss, but Worrel wasn't convinced of Mitchell's act and soon SG-1 were running for their lives. Worrel caught them and tortured them, but they were rescued by Col. Emerson in the Odyssey before they could be executed.

Netan of the Lucian Alliance was Worrel's employer and he used the Stargate to distribute his crop. After Ba'al stole the Stargate and DHD from P6G-452, Netan conducted an investigation, using his vast network of Alliance members, to track down Ba'al's ha'tak within which he was storing at least a dozen of his stolen Stargates. In the space battle that followed, Ba'al's ha'tak was destroyed and Netan was left without his Stargate. According to Netan, two-thirds of the kassa crop would go bad without the Stargate on P6G-452. (9.16 "Off The Grid")

Not long after learning about the Lucian Alliance's role in the manufacturing and distributing of the kassa plant, the SGC started to get reports of a burrowing bug which would consume a plant from its roots up on several planets visited by the Priors of the Ori. Hoping that they could engineer the bugs to destroy the remaining kassa crops, the SGC started an investigation into their nature at their off-world research station, the Gamma Site. The bugs were being studied by Dr. Myers, an entomologist, who decided to try an alternate food source for the bugs in his containment unit. After being starved for three days, the bugs curiously refused the plant matter he gave them, so he gave them a sample of the meatloaf from his lunch plate. The bugs greedily ate the meatloaf and as a result became carnivorous and craved only meat. The bugs reproduced rapidly and spread all over the Gamma Site, killing all of those stationed there.

Even after the disaster of losing the Gamma Site, the SGC is still studying the bugs, hoping that they can develop a toxin which will destroy only the bugs themselves. Knowing that the bugs can switch food sources and go from herbivorous to carnivorous, they no longer wish to use the bugs as a weapon against the kassa plants of the Lucian Alliance because the bugs would ultimately destroy entire human populations. (9.17 "The Scourge")

In an undercover operation in which Mitchell infiltrated Netan's ranks disguised as Kefflin, one of Netan's seconds who managed a kassa production operation on a remote group of planets on the outskirts of the galaxy, Netan confided that drought and floods had ravaged the Alliance's highest yielding kassa plantations within the last season. Netan also stated that many of the Alliance's planets had been taken by the armies of the Ori, greatly affecting their kassa trade. (10.09 "Company of Thieves")